Arts
Medlar Jelly
Ingredients 2.5 kg ripe medlars 600g unripe medlars 3 small unripe apples or 20 crab apples 3 lemons 3 litres water 1.5 kg granulated sugar Pinch of saffron 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon 2 ground cloves [more…]
Holiday
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 38
If you’re ever in Atlanta, Georgia, may I recommend the Georgia State Capital Museum? During my time there, Atlanta was the second most violent place in the Union. The actual murder capital of America was, [more…]
Arts
Artisan Bread
You know who you are. You can cook, possibly even turn out a decent meringué or even a soufflé, but the mere thought of baking a loaf of bread fills you with irrational fear. The [more…]
Arts
Postcard From Zakynthos
It isn’t just about swanning around the Lake District, visiting friends in Devon, Air B&B’ing to Barcelona, holidaying on the West coast of Scotland or nipping down to Essex for a couple of beers. There [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 37
‘There must be a better way to live than this’, I observe, ‘the squabbling, the pettiness, the violence. Why can’t we all just get on with each other and live in peace and harmony?’, I wonder [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 36
By now, Princess Fahds was married and expecting. Expecting a bebe and expecting the love to follow the land, as the new one’s little feet approached the oil soaked, lifeless sand. Her own life was full of wonderful things. A wonderful [more…]
19th Century
Postcard From Cumbria (A Week in the Lake District) Part 2
Monday 22/09 Wray Castle-Hawkshead-Claife Viewing Station We’d a full day planned for Monday so it was an early start for us, initially to Ambleside for breakfast at “Kysty Café”. Kysty is Cumbrian dialect for fussy, [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 35
They, dear reader, say that a humble author should read, read, read as well as write, write, write. In my defence, long-suffering aficionados of our never-ending quest for Lille will have noticed, to name but [more…]
18th Century
Postcard From Cumbria (A Week in the Lake District) Part One
Some of you may remember that back in 2017 Mrs. C and I (it was all her plan really) made it our business to do 40 things together to celebrate having been married for 40 [more…]